Rep. Blackburn: House Republicans to Introduce Obamacare Alternative

The Republican Study Committee in the House will introduce legislation after the August recess that would replace Obamacare with new healthcare reforms, Rep. Marsha Blackburn told Newsmax.

"We in the Republican Study Committee are bringing forth our replacement bill, which is a comprehensive bill. It's about 260 pages," the Tennessee Republican told Newsmax in an interview on Friday. "I have been a part of that team, and we look forward to unveiling that."

House Republicans have voted 40 times to repeal, defund or dismantle the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, while developing an alternative plan throughout the process, Blackburn said.

"We have not been sitting around," she told Newsmax. "The American people know that we're doing everything we possibly can to delay, defund, repeal and replace this law. They know that — and they know that the administration is not working with us as they should."

A spokesman for the committee's chairman, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, told The Hill
on Friday that the group would introduce its measure after the recess. The committee has 173 members.

"Chairman Scalise and the RSC Health Care Working Group are drafting legislation to repeal Obamacare and replace it with a conservative alternative that fixes the problems in our healthcare system without the harmful taxes and mandates in the president's law," Stephen Bell told the Hill. "The timetable for rollout is slated for this fall."

The measure is expected to include protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions, a key feature of President Barack Obama's law. Both Blackburn and Bell declined to provide more details.

"People also know that we have been successful in getting some portions of Obamacare delayed or repealed," Blackburn told Newsmax. "We're just going to stay at it."